12.08.2016 Market Wired

​ThreatMetrix Awarded Two Patents for Fraud Prevention and Authentication

ThreatMetrix®, The Digital Identity Company™, today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted ThreatMetrix two additional patents. ThreatMetrix has amassed a portfolio of 11 patents since 2008. These latest inventions demonstrate the company's continued investment in R&D and intellectual property.

Patent No. 9,444,839 B1 is for technology which uniquely identifies devices and associated fraud and security violations in real time across a global network. This is done in a way that is anonymous and transparent to users while also resistant to forgery and manipulation. The patent covers capturing numerous attributes from a network device connecting to a web service. Based on information associated with the attributes, the combined intelligence can identify a device, determine if it is new or returning, determine if it is spoofed or compromised and classify its trustworthiness. In addition to a web server environment, applicability could also apply to mobile apps, a firewall, a prevention system, an anti-spam device and more.

Patent No. 9,332,020 B2 covers the use of device fingerprinting technology to track machines on a wide area network to detect and counter attack activity from malicious and compromised hosts. This invention monitors traffic flowing to a website through computer networks and can identify a malicious host coupled to the network. This latest patent also covers a firewall, an intrusion detection/prevention system, a server, a content filter device, an anti-virus process, and anti-SPAM device, a web proxy filter, spyware, web security process, electronic mail filter, and any combination of these.

With its latest patented technology, ThreatMetrix can use global shared intelligence to track devices and changes to that device over time on a global scale. In turn, anomalous or unusual attributes and behaviors can be detected in real time, reducing friction for genuine users while protecting against fraud. This complex orchestration is achieved anonymously and without requiring user interaction.

Alisdair Faulkner, Chief Products Officer for ThreatMetrix said, "Just like fingerprint matching is a critical tool for fighting crime in an offline world, we need a robust approach for matching and identifying devices and associated digital identities to detect and prevent cybercrime. Where real fingerprints get smudged and criminals wear gloves, valid users upgrade their devices, and cybercriminals use anonymizers and bots. With online authentication and fraud prevention, a big difference is that matching digital fingerprints across the internet needs to take milliseconds, be continuously updated with every single interaction and transaction in real-time, and assume that criminals are going to try to avoid detection."

Reliably identifying and classifying devices is a cornerstone of the ThreatMetrix Digital Identity Graph -- the ability to anonymously map the multiple personas and associated devices and behaviors that make up an individual's unique digital identity as they transact online. Faulkner added, "Today a device, any device, is the digital citizen's anonymous passport to access any service at any time and any location. With these additional patents, we can fulfil the weighty job of being a digital identity company that is uniquely and anonymously identifying customers while keeping fraudsters out."